Big Trouble Ahead [Thriving in the Storm]

[Music] it's a privilege to be with you today our topic is thriving in the midst of big trouble not a negative confession but folks our world changed in 2020. it was introduced to us with a pandemic but the turmoil and the confusion the insanity it hasn't stopped we're not finished quite yet but in the midst of all of that in the midst of the change the turmoil the unsettled the lawlessness the violence all the stuff we can still flourish god has not withdrawn from us he's not intimidated by evil he's not threatened by gender confusion i promise you god has a pathway in this season for you and me to flourish we're gonna see if we can understand that a little bit better grab your bible get a notepad but most importantly open your heart big trouble is the plain english for the biblical word tribulation that's what tribulation means is big trouble and i'm not really going to argue with you about timelines i'll i'll give you some suggestions in a minute but i i think a casual glance at the world we would live in would would suggest that we're living through a season of some troubling things and yet i want to be certain that you hear me because the most important part to me is i think we're living in the most exciting days god is moving in ways i haven't seen him move in decades there are hearts changing and doors being opened and opportunities being presented and people responding in ways that i have not seen in a long long time it's the truth and i may talk just a bit about some of the things i see that are distressing or concerning to me but i don't want you to lose sight of up against that there's a far greater expression of the spirit of god than any expression of darkness that i see so when i look at the wind through the window at what i believe is ahead of us what i understand to be our future it isn't one a scenario that's frightening to me in fact quite the opposite i have perhaps a greater boldness and a greater enthusiasm for the opportunities around the kingdom of god than in any time in my life but i think we would be naive not to acknowledge that our world is changing it may have been introduced to us with a pandemic but the pandemic was just a first step in a season of change and i think to the casual observer we would recognize that as a time of turmoil and confusion tribulation big trouble and what i want to submit to you is that as christ followers we can flourish in the midst of that that we don't need to be frightened or threatened the economy is uncertain the schools are a little upside down in fact i wrote a book it it really was a compilation of things i have shared with you about big trouble ahead and the publisher said it's a negative title you can't use it and i said but it's true and they said yeah but negative titles aren't good i said well call it big trouble ahead and i'm happy about it they didn't like that title either but there is a new book coming out next month and the title is big trouble ahead but the focus of it is how to flourish in the middle of that and i don't want us to lose sight of that you know it seems like with every week there's some statement that is made or some idea that's pushed forward or some policy that's being forwarded that is more nonsensical than the week before i mean we'll have educated well-educated highly educated people saying they don't know how to define a woman i grew up on a farm in tennessee i think we can figure this out [Applause] but if you try to stop and respond to the illogical statements you'll miss the bigger point because while you're responding to that they'll move on and make three more statements less logical than the previous one it's not a logical discussion it's not a logical struggle it's a spiritual struggle this week it was the head of the teachers union saying they would like to just eliminate the word mother they prefer birthing people you can't make it up but don't spend your time the world we live in is a truly remarkable place and the spirit of god is moving but understand that the confusion and the turmoil and the turbulence and all i believe they will escalate they'll gain in intensity there's lots of microphones pointed at people the more outlandish the more microphones you can attract it's true within the church the simple truth of the gospel doesn't seem to be overly fashionable they say it's a little quaint if you pay close attention to the churches even some would suggest that that's the profoundity of the gospel and its simplicity is not adequate folks the gospel is enough it will open a pathway for you through your life i have complete confidence in the redemptive work of jesus and what he accomplished for us why it was necessary what he accomplished and the benefits that will accrue to a human life if we will cooperate with him but the church is going to have to be more aware we've lived too far in the world and too far away from the fear of the lord and so i want to take a few sessions and see if we can walk through this a little bit gain a little momentum a little courage focus our attention on some things that i believe will embolden us and help us overcome some of our timidity and i want to start with the obvious i think we can live lives that are both unafraid and we don't have to be frightened the world is changing that's true our economy is upside down that's true you know it feels like truth is stumbled in the street that isaiah was talking about our generation i believe that's true but i still don't believe you have to lead frightened lives jesus said you know my peace i leave with you jesus life was not filled with an absence of conflict but it was filled with an abundance of peace and i think the conflict in our worlds are going to continue but i don't believe we have to be afraid and if you're afraid there's a place where your trust in the lord can grow those places where you're frightened or threatened or intimidated or uncertain or you feel insecure recognize it as an opportunity where you can get to know the lord better and you can have more confidence first peter chapter 3 in verse 13 peter says who's going to harm you if you were eager to do good he's asking a rhetorical question and the answer in his life and the answer at ours is there's quite a few people if you're eager to do good there are people you'll at least need a waiver or a release and it'll be better if it's notarized but even if you should suffer for what is right you are blessed now that's an odd sentence he said if you suffer for doing the right thing you're blessed doesn't feel like it right you ever done the right thing and it didn't work out so well don't look at somebody next to you when you say that that's not a good habit we've all done that i'm sure but peter says if that happens you're still blessed and then his counsel do not fear what they fear do not be frightened but in your heart set apart christ is lord and always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have and do this with gentleness and respect don't be afraid of what they're afraid of you don't have to be filled with fear please here in fact if you don't take anything else away don't watch the evening news or spend time on the internet chasing down your favorite conspiracy theory and allow it to fill your life with fear it's not helpful the the antidote for fear is trust and when you recognize fear has a root hole in your life a foothold in your life begin to say to the lord where is it i have failed to trust you as completely as i might we live in a fearsome time but we don't have to be frightened people amen isaiah chapter 8 says don't call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy some of you need to spend less time on the internet justice is not going to come from the government or a political party or a politician or a movement justice comes from almighty god now i know we're in the world and i want you to participate in the systems i want you to be engaged and be aware and cooperate with the opportunities you have but don't imagine that the delivery of your freedom and liberty will come from those things they will come from god they may be expressed through those venues but they originate with god don't call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy don't fear what they fear and don't dread it the lord almighty is the one you're to regard as holy he is the one you're to fear he is the one you were to dread you should be far more concerned about displeasing god than annoying any of the people around us i'm far more concerned about not about failing to understand what god is saying than i am to understand what's happening in the world around me and i don't want to lead a life that's unaware or uninformed i give a good deal of attention to that but i'm far more concerned about having a god perspective than i am any other perspective and the more you'll commit yourself to that the less fear will have a stronghold in your heart now it seems to me there's there's a couple of possible scenarios that there's a there's an infinite number of scenarios but there are two from a biblical perspective to me that seem most probable they share some similarities but they're very divergent in some respects and i'd like just to briefly discuss them i'm not going to walk through all the scriptures that would support them it would take us longer than i want to spend with them i think they're familiar to you one is the idea that jesus returned the return of the messiah is imminent that this would be the terminal generation and jesus is coming back now the exact timing of that i i don't want to get into the weeds on that but let's say the possibility is within a generation i think most of the biblical components around that could be fulfilled within a generation what you need to know is this is not a new hope you wouldn't be the first generation to believe that in fact it's abundantly clear that the the folks that contributed to the new testament believed that and they aren't the only generation now i'm not saying that to dissuade you or to discourage you in that anticipation or that hope but i want you to be informed that if you have arrived at that conclusion you're not the first generation that's arrived at that conclusion in luke 24 it's the road to emmaus this is jesus after his resurrection he's walking along a road and he's joined a couple of disciples they haven't recognized him and they're recounting to him what's been happening in jerusalem and they said the chief priest and our rulers handed him handed jesus over to be sentenced to death and they crucified him but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem israel they said we had hope that the messiah was here and israel was going to be delivered from roman oppression you'll notice that the verb is in the past tense we had hoped that when the romans tortured him to death we lost that hope in acts chapter one we're a little further in the chronology of the story it's the chapter of jesus ascension to heaven and some of the last recorded words we have between jesus and his closest friends and he said they when they met together they asked him lord are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to israel are you going to give us our autonomy back you're going to send pilate home are you going to reestablish the throne of david they're looking for a political solution they don't like the discomfort the humiliation that comes with roman occupation they don't like taxes going to rome they don't like the way their dollars are being spent seem familiar are you going to restore the kingdom to israel now they've just spent 40 days with the resurrected christ having a seminar on the kingdom of god we're told that and the one question they ask that we are included in that we're allowed to know after a 40-day seminar with a resurrected messiah the one question is are you going to get rid of the romans now yeah yeah yeah we heard all the stuff on the kingdom but what about rome and jesus said it's not for you to know the times or the dates the father has set by his own authority but i want to know but in good old plain tennis in english jesus just said that's really not any of your business i read that verse and i have to smile to myself he goes on to say stay in jerusalem until you're empowered by the spirit of god to be witnesses for me in jerusalem and judea and they're like yeah yeah whatever how many times have i been in seminars we have charts and timelines and chronologies and we're arguing passionately because we understand the times and the dates and we have the tiniest concern whatsoever about being empowered to be witnesses we're still ignoring jesus so this notion that we're the terminal generation not a wrong awareness i'm not suggesting to you that you are out of bounds if you think that i'm just i want you to understand you're not the first generation to wrestle with this it hasn't been just us now there's some current trends that would be supported from scripture around affirming this season in time this march towards globalization if this is the the the precipice of jesus return that will increase and multiply and intensify because we know before jesus comes back there will be a unified global leader so those trends that we see gaining so much momentum they will continue unabated we also know from scripture if it's that season that lawlessness will continue to increase that it will continue to escalate we know that censorship and propaganda will continue to grow all those things you're watching those are legitimate components of that end-time scenario what you need to be aware of or at least you want to maintain an awareness of that the same climate conditions that let the summer vegetables grow in tennessee also let the weeds grow have you noticed that have you ever planted a vegetable garden did you grow anything you didn't want to do the things you don't want to grow do they grow faster than things you want to grow do you have visitors into that vegetable patch that you didn't invite and you better have a plan for all the above and it takes some determination and some careful attention and some focus to get to the outcome you want well the same climactic conditions that will allow the the outpouring the moving of the spirit of god at the end of the age will also create an expression of an unholy spiritual explosion the lawlessness will continue to grow and escalate in fact jesus said that it'll come to the point that there'll be a hatred of christians that's unprecedented unparalleled you'll be hated by all nations he said because of me now you should also anticipate some positive things that are going to happen if this is the scenario that's unfolding there'll be a moving of the spirit of god unlike any we've known before it will walk us towards this final harvest with really good sound effects [Applause] because that window of opportunity will ultimately close there there'll also be a final judgment upon the rebellious who will stubbornly refuse to submit to god and that judgment will be more open and more pronounced than we're accustomed to seeing for most of human history and then it'll culminate in jesus return to deliver his people because we will need his help most of us talk about the second coming of the lord if it's an intrusion you know we want him to come back but not until we complete our vacation or until we get to draw some of our social security that we've paid in for all those years we want to get some return on that investment or something you're delaying it for we've treated the return of the lord as if when he comes back we'll go oh yeah it's kind of nice to see you but if i understand the scripture at all it says when the lord returns he'll come back because we'll be in such a desperate place that without his return we wouldn't be able to withstand the pressure of the time so when we talk about this generation being the concluding generation it will culminate in jesus return but he'll come to deliver his people and bring those some of those final judgments upon his enemies matthew 24 gives us a description it says if those days had not been cut short no one would survive that's a pretty intense time revelation chapter 9 gives you several little vignettes into the season but i gave you just a sampling it says a third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths the rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still didn't repent of the work of their hands they didn't stop worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood don't think of worshipping idols as bowing down in front of little molten statues or you worship those things by giving them top priority in your life they are the values that you chase above all else those are the idols of your life a third of all humanity destroyed pretty intense times now all of that is rolled into that season that that will characterize the return of the lord to the earth and most of the questions we usually have around that are timing questions when will the rapture take place post pre-mid somewhere in between most of you have asked those questions i i really didn't come for that debate tonight because the the specificity with which we know isn't um clear enough what you i give you my best counsel you want to be caught doing the work of the lord you want to be fully invested in serving the lord and advocating for jesus no matter which of those scenarios you hold to be the way the truth and the life anything short of that the answer will not be great now there's an alternative to that there's a second option that i think is just as legitimate i may have a preference but between the two i honestly i can make a biblical case for both the second option would be that what we're living through and what we're witnessing could be understood as more of a preliminary tremor in the language of matthew 24 it's the beginning of birth pains i've told you before my father was a veterinarian and i grew up watching things be born kittens and puppies and calves and foals and various and sundry bizarre animals so i've watched a lot of things come into the world and there's a process involved in that but once those birth pains begin the timing between the beginning of those and the delivery is is indeterminate it's not the same and it's entirely possible both biblically and historically that what we are witnessing isn't the terminal generation it's not the generation that would see jesus return but we're witnessing the circumstances some foreshadowing of what we'll intensify before he returns what's the right answer a lot to me the right answer has more to do with our behavior than the certainty with which we we proclaim the answer or we go back to acts chapter one and we sound more like the disciples are you going to throw the romans out now and jesus said really that's not the best question focus on being powered being empowered to be witnesses for me so if this is the scenario that we're going to walk through some of the current trends that we're watching that will escalate the lawlessness will continue to grow i think that clearly is a part of the season we will see truth continue to be exchanged for lies and deception now i happen to think what's happening around us is a great gift up until about three years ago there were things we accepted as as trustworthy that had been exposed as being far less than that but that revelation didn't really change the nature of those institutions or those organizations or those it's simply the deception's been pulled back so that we could see the truth i consider that a gift that's not frightening that's a yay god that's like a good diagnosis you don't get mad at the doctor you give them a hug if you have any sense i think immorality will continue to be celebrated they'll take what is godly and call it wrong and they'll take what's ungodly and they'll tell you it should be normalized and widespread i think we will see an escalation of apostasy of a falling away under the umbrella of the church we'll see more and more people stepping away from orthodoxy and by that i mean that they won't hold the scripture to be the inspired word of god they won't believe in the uniqueness of jesus they won't advocate for those characteristics that make him unique a virgin birth a physical death on the cross a bodily resurrection the notion that we are sinners and we need a savior will be more and more widely mocked within religious circles that's called apostasy we'll still have churches and church buildings and worship services and lots of religious language the antichrist most trusted associate will be a false prophet a very religious character that's a part of the scenario that's in front of us that doesn't necessarily have to be associated with the imminent return of the lord i'm going to support it i believe in a minute with some other things so bear with me hebrews chapter 12 says see to it that you don't refuse him who speaks if they didn't escape when they refused him who warned him on earth how much less will we if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven so the context is warnings from heaven you believe god warns us from heaven you're walking the wrong way you've made bad choices you may have done it in ignorance you may have done it with a lack of awareness you may have done it because you weren't properly instructed there's a lot of reasons but it's a warning not all warnings are a threat do you get a warning on your phone it doesn't mean you've done something wrong it's an acknowledgement of an awareness that you need we've taken warnings in a personal way and we haven't responded to them because we've been defensive i want to suggest you when you get a warning from the lord don't be defensive he's not threatening you it's a caution it's like a flashing yellow light the bridge is out didn't say you were a bad driver she said if you keep driving down this road it's not going to work out great and we respond sometimes to god's warnings if they're personal well who said i was doing it nobody said you would do it it's a warning well who do you think no it's a warning so what would god's warning look like well he's going to describe it who warns you from heaven at that time his voice shook the earth but now he's promised once more i'll shake not only the earth but also the heavens and the words once more indicate the removing of what can be shaken that is created things so that what cannot be shaken may remain i for want to put my trust in some things that were not trustworthy i had confidence in some institutions and some documents and some things that in recent years and months i have had to look at with a different perspective because they don't seem as stalwart or as foundational as i imagined them to be it wasn't that i didn't love the lord i feel like i've been giving a warning you probably shouldn't trust that as fully as you trusted it transfer some of your trust i consider that a great gift in my life and then verse 28 goes on to say therefore since we're receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken let's be thankful so worship god acceptably with reverence and awe god is helping to transfer our attention from things which are temporary and insubstantial things that can be shaken to a kingdom that is unshakable and eternal see the most significant component of your faith is not what it will do for you in time and that is significant but the most significant part is what it will do for all eternity for your life beyond time paul said if we only have hope in christ in time we're to be pitied above all people when he's facing death in second timothy he said you know the time for my departure is at hand but there is in store for me a crown of righteousness that's not a defeated passage he's not wringing his hands going oh me he's going i'm getting a promotion so when we think about this season we're walking through and god's shaking things that we thought were stable supply chains things that we just counted on i just i expected to be able to choose from 30 different kinds of mustard in the grocery store that's just normal i expect there to be at least a dozen kinds of oreos that's just the blessing of god i mean now if we're only down to a half a dozen kinds we're suffering for jesus now i mean this is serious well these two scenarios that i have just in general sketched out they share some things in common they certainly have some similarities but they lead to two different outcomes one would lead to the imminent return of jesus to the earth ruling and reigning on this earth in righteousness the second leads to the church being awakened and empowered to complete our assignment now the circumstances around the two have a great deal of similarity to them i may have some opinions around it but folks they would be my opinions and the candidly i could argue both positions from scripture with a great deal of enthusiasm what i can tell you about my best perspective on our immediate future is it can be it's going to be defined by some pretty significant trouble it's not going to be defined by greater stability and more cooperation and greater peace and greater unity and because of that there's some things i would submit that you and i need to pay attention to we need some from very um significant clarity on [Music] if you're going to travel with me to israel there's some things i would say to you are really important you need a current passport which means it needs to be current within more than six months of the date of travel and that's really not negotiable if you say well i don't think you know passport's that important i promise you it is because without it your trip will be interrupted you know there's just two or three things i can tell you that would make that trip either more effective or far less possible and i have that same sense of the season ahead of us from a biblical perspective there are some things that will be challenged and they're going to be challenged more broadly and from more authoritative places and more frequently than we are accustomed to seeing them challenged and oftentimes if you don't agree with conventional wisdom there will be consequences of a magnitude that we're not accustomed to seeing and one of those that i think we will watch this happen with in the immediate future has to do with the recognition of sin it's just not fashionable any longer to talk about sin well who says in fact we're told quite frequently these days that all truth is subjective you have truth i have truth we have truth i have a truth you have a truth here's a truth truth put your left foot in we'll just shake it all about and see what comes out i mean that's a far more fashionable idea even within much of the the religious circle than saying there is objective truth there is right and wrong there's good and evil well who are you it's not about who i am or who you are it's who the creator of all things is look in first corinthians 6. i brought you just a couple of samples we could spend a great deal of time with this but i think you're aware of the principle i just want you to know it's grounded in scripture it says don't you know and you know by now when the bible begins a phrase with that the answer is that the reader the the author is assuming the reader probably doesn't don't you no no i probably don't don't you know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of god that just won't happen so now the important question is who's classified as wicked if the wicked are not going to inherit the kingdom of god i don't want to get classified that way [Music] this isn't complicated because you have a southern accent i'd be getting some training if that made me wicked don't you know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of god do not be deceived now again if it's warning you not to be deceived you should understand there will be widespread deception on this point which means many voices shadings of the truth the most persistent jesus the persistent warning jesus gave about the end of the age was the warning against deception and he was giving the warning to his closest friends so i'm not surprised at this point when paul is reiterating that to the believers in corinth he said don't be deceived neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanders or slanderers or swindlers will inherit the kingdom of god you can't slander people and be a part of the kingdom of god you can't shade the truth use your words use a wink a raising of your eyebrows you can't use innuendo you can't assassinate people's character without the truth to support it and imagine you can be a part of the kingdom of god i don't care if you call it a prayer circle or not i mean we can get pretty good we can get more rapid acceptance that adultery is probably not a good thing or prostitution probably shouldn't be celebrated now you can't get that culturally very far but but you should i believe still find that within the church but things like slanderers or swindlers taking unfair of advantage for financial gain you can't do that that's not good business verse 11 is the punchline and that is what some of you were if you want to read the resume of the church it's listed there we were sexually immoral idolaters and adulterers and male prostitutes and homosexual offenders and thieves and greedy drunks and slanderers who would swindle you at a moment's notice but we were washed and we were sanctified and we were justified in the name of the lord jesus and by the spirit of god folks sin is real and you can't entertain it you can't accommodate it you can't negotiate with it you can't excuse it you can't welcome it to the dinner table and relabel it the consequences are too high and the church has been far better at overlooking sin than we have overcoming it we can't overcome it until we acknowledge it and that's going to get worse the pressures to not acknowledge it to look away to call it something else i don't want to bring division i don't want to separate a relationship i don't i'm not suggesting you be angry belligerent condemning violent i'm not suggesting that at all i'm telling you there's right and wrong and we're going to have to have the courage to say that romans chapter 1 did i put that in your notes good sometimes i give you the cheap copy somebody asked me tonight what font i printed your notes in was it tiny or was it hopeful furthermore since they didn't think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of god he gave him over to a depraved mind to do what not to be done you see if we don't consider the knowledge of god worthwhile god will relinquish you and the outcome of that is depravity which means momentum away from godliness does it seem to anyone that perhaps we are gaining momentum away from godliness you know for that to happen it means the light and the salt of the church is diminished i've said it over and over i'll continue to say it the problems we face are not because of the depravity of the wicked it's because of the indifference of the faithful we haven't cared that much we've danced so close to the line in the world we ask questions like how far is too far how often do i have to attend how much do i have to serve how much do i have to give they become filled with every kind of wickedness evil greed depravity they're full of envy murder strife deceit and malice gossips slanderers god haters insolent arrogant boastful they invent ways of doing evil and they disobey their parents they're senseless faithless heartless ruthless and all they although they know god's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death they not only continue to do these very things but they approve of those who practice them that last phrase is the one i would like to call your attention to if you approve of those who practice those things you're included as guilty that should give all of us a bit of pause because we have watched much of this happening on our watch and we've been confused we weren't certain what to do what to say and the the counsel and the leadership that's been coming from churches has not often been helpful but god is awakening us again not to be angry to be aware we're going to have to be willing to acknowledge that sin exists and that it's destructive it's more destructive than the worst diagnosis you could imagine coming from a physician it's worse news than contracting any virus that's been available the willful practice of sin will result in destruction don't do it it's not worth it it's deceptive it promises something it can't deliver if it delivered what it promised it wouldn't be deceptive temptation is the ultimate bait and switch it will make you happy but it doesn't it will leave you content and fulfilled but it doesn't but because we understand the power of temptation and how real it is because we have all experienced it oftentimes we lack the courage or the willingness to say to someone i would make a different choice the second component i would submit to you that we're going to have to to gain some new awareness of and new willingness new willingness directed towards has to do with our willingness to stand for the truth i think we've kind of imagined somebody else could do that we want to like the politician do that we want somebody to go to washington dc and fix us we think there'd be a new anointing at the church if pastor would just pray more you know he used to be anointed but he must be doing something else now because he doesn't feel anointed to me anymore you know but we haven't had the notion that we had individual responsibilities to stand we didn't imagine that we had to stand for our families or stand for the place of employment where we are stand for our neighborhood or stand for our community or stand for our nation it was somebody else's responsibility we thought we could negotiate we thought we could compromise i don't believe in the season that we've entered into you'll be able to do that i believe you'll be swept away i don't believe that you can maintain your silence and stand in the shadows and imagine that you'll be able to maintain the integrity of your faith i understand that's been the scene the scenario in the circumstance for a long time many of us could describe our entire spiritual journey that way we've been lukewarm fence-sitting we've been chameleon-like we've had a face for church and had a face for our church friends and we've had a different face for business or a different face for our our recreational friends and we could talk about ungodly behaviors and sin as if we could compartmentalize those to a number of days of the week or a number of places that we would visit but they didn't have to intersect with the other places and in the midst of that for us for a long season we've been able to flourish i believe that season is over as certainly as within a few weeks you right now you can plant things in middle tennessee and they will grow you can plant zinnias and they will grow you can plant roses and they'll grow you can plant green beans and they will grow you can plant a watermelon it'll grow try that in november it won't work because the season changed and if that notion of being chameleon-like or having compartmentalized your life and you could still flourish and maintain a spirituality and you knew some sense of the lord's presence that may have been an accurate description of your life up to this point but i believe the season has changed just as certainly as the as our growing season will change and we're going to have to be willing to begin to stand up and say i'm for jesus you don't have to preach a sermon you don't have to sing all five verses of how great thou art but you're going to have to be identified matthew 24 jesus said because of the increase of wickedness the love of most will grow cold but he who stands firm to the end will be saved he didn't say he's going to excuse it because wickedness increased and the love of most grew cold so it'll be okay just come on in he described the scenario of the season and he said now you're going to have to stand firm so i would encourage you know if you if you haven't been using a muscle for a while it atrophies and when you begin to use it again it's awkward and it's uncomfortable it's painful and it's not just painful while you're doing the immediate rehab there's soreness that comes days after and you have to rebuild strength by repeated use you have to train that and i believe that's a part of this transitionary time when we're learning to stand in new ways we're learning to say no mother's really not a bad word we've all had one just cutting edge stuff and i think my children ought to be educated that motherhood's a real deal yes we're going to help them understand these complex issues of life we will they'll teach us how to make the remote work for our television but we're going to help them with these things we're going to have to stand up matthew 10 jesus said all men will hate you because of me he's sending out the disciples he's not talking to them he's sending out the twelve this wasn't an end time assignment again don't get trapped into thinking it's into the age and the big escapes coming and i'm going to miss it all so it's not my problem don't misunderstand me i went out here on the first load up i'm not arguing i don't want to tribulate but i'm telling you jesus said all men will hate you because of me and he who stands firm to the end will be saved that's his coaching to his disciples are you willing to be hated for jesus if you are not how come whose approval exactly are you looking for what invitation list are you concerned about being left off of which business deal are you closing that's more significant than his approval just exactly what is it you're doing that's more important we've got to do a little heart check how has the influence of our salt been so small and our light been so dim because we weren't paying any attention to those kind of things revelation 21 is very near the end of the book i mean it's like the concluding narrative and he's going to tell you who wins and who loses it says in verse 7 he who overcomes will inherit this and i will be his god and he'll be my son who's going to inherit the overcomers i don't think you can be a covert overcomer and the next phrase kind of confirms that verse 8 says the cowardly and the unbelieving and the vile and the murderers and the sexually immoral their place is going to be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur did you know that the cowardly and the immoral and the vile all got dumped in the same bucket so if we're reluctant frightened intimidated we feel threatened we're not certain we're uncomfortable saying hey i'm for jesus i have been there i'm not talking to you about a feeling that i don't know i didn't grow up with aspirations to be in the ministry when i was a kid the ministers i knew were black robes and they frowned professionally i don't ever remember seeing somebody laugh that was in the ministry i certainly never saw anybody have a good time church was a place where you went so you could escape as quickly as possible don't look at me like you don't understand i don't ever remember saying to my parents oh could we go to church and could we stay longer than last week we've missed a couple of weeks can't we go this week never came out of my mouth do we have to go yes how long do we have to stay do we have to go to sunday school can we just go to which car park can we skip and then i had to sense god was asking me to serve him and i had a problem [Music] because none of the ways i knew to do that had any good memories attached to them the first awakening that came to me was that i didn't like to be with christians and the reason wasn't because the christians it was because there was so little jesus in me that's awkward i mean i was sitting there explaining to the lord why christians were so awful and i mean he was patient with me but when it occurred to me that the reason i felt that way is i had so little regard for the things of the lord if you think christians are stupid backwards out of sync not clever not aggressive not inventive not creative you better review what you're attaching value to i had to do that so then i said okay you know perhaps i could serve you i know you'd be relieved if i volunteered for the team arrogant is the word you're looking for you know where would you like me to do that washington dc los angeles new york city how about murfreesboro [Applause] no no no no oh my god you wouldn't you would not ask me to do that they know me and when i came back the church doesn't look like it does today we were in a little rented room sitting on rented chairs and we really couldn't afford the rent we were only there because of the [Music] benevolence of a businessman and the respect he had from my parents and then we upgraded we put up a tent and i'd bump into my classmates the people i'd gone to school with that i'd grown up with and i said what are you doing and i said i'm a practice what are you doing i went to get permission to get electricity turned on in the tent and the person that was working at the electric department had been a classmate of mine and i told her we needed electricity in the tent she said why do you do that she said well it's a church she said what are you doing with that and i said well i'm a pastor she fell out of her chair laughing at me [Applause] and it was not the joy of the lord that was bubbling up in her so when i talk to you about being willing to stand i'm talking to you from a journey that i have walked and continued to walk it's not an entirely old thing for me i was willing to be a pastor if you came in the building i would tell you what i believed about the lord but for a long long time i didn't want any channel turned on outside this building because i didn't want strangers all over everywhere knowing i believed in praying for the sick and casting out demons i mean if you make the trip to campus and you walk in here you can think i'm crazy i'm okay with that but when we multiplied that exponentially i thought oh lord i'd rather be seen as sophisticated and educated suave [Applause] and i'm not sure it was the voice of the lord but i heard something inside me said look in the mirror good point so it's not theoretical to me we're going to have to be willing to stand up in a new kind of way there is right and wrong i'm not going to call you a good person if you behave in an ungodly way consistently i can say you struggle i can say you have some good characteristics but i'm not going to call evil god we haven't been willing to stand very much he who overcomes will inherit this but the cowardly won't but i'm telling you it's mythical to think that because you've said the sinner's prayer or been born again that you automatically have this boldness in every circumstance that old carnal selfish part of me is a real thing i have to keep my foot on its throat most days i'm learning to be more bold for the lord in a right in a respectful way ephesians 6 has put on the full armor of god so when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground the day of evil is a presumption it's coming it's assumed it gives you the armor of god in that passage but there is no armor of god for your back all the armor assumes we're moving forward if you're retreating you're vulnerable we've got to learn to stand up folks we haven't been willing to do that we've been silent i'm tired of hearing about the silent majority i don't believe it exists if there were 100 million born-again people in this nation our nation would be different [Applause] now there's one more piece i want to add to this my time's just about gone so i'll do it quickly i want you to understand that the challenge we face that the darkness we see and the turmoil is not new i don't want you to imagine we're the first generation to be awake and to go what has happened to us how did immorality explode like this it's true those things are happening deception manipulation propaganda lawlessness violence they are exploding around us the most nonsensical things are being pushed onto the table as if they made perfect sense week after week day after day it's coming at a pace it's almost unimaginable but it's not new i brought you just a little sample i want to give you some samples from from recent history and then we'll i'll close with the biblical story how many of you know what kristallnacht is you don't have to raise your hand it's a german pronunciation it means the night of the broken glass it took place in germany predominantly in 1938 it was november of 1938 there was a political change in germany the implications of it were not as clear as they are to us in fact it was built around nationalism and pride and fed many carnal things but on that particular night the german authorities looked on without intervening kristallnacht means broken glass because all over germany jewish-owned stores buildings and synagogues were smashed the pretext for all of that happening there was a pretext that was widely discussed in the media it was the assassination of a german diplomat by a 17 year old german-born polish jew who lived in paris that was the spark that ignited the murders of thousands and the destructions of jewish homes and hospitals and schools buildings were demolished with sledgehammers this wasn't done subtly it was the local citizens destroying jewish businesses and places of worship more than 260 synagogues throughout germany and austria more than 7 000 jewish businesses were damaged 30 000 jewish men were arrested and incarcerated in concentration camps yes it was the first snapshot of what was to become the final solution but nobody understood that at that point everybody just stood silently by while it happened well i would submit to you if that was your place of worship or your business or your hospital or your life's investment that would have felt like the end of the age does that seem fair total destruction nobody standing up for you no place to appeal no court of appeal well some of you say that's ancient history pastor well let's scroll forward a bit 1994 this time a nation where our church has been involved a good bit my parents have been there multiple times rwanda there was a genocide there that hasn't had a great deal of attention it was a planned campaign of mass murder that occurred over a hundred day period a hundred day period not a hundred months a hundred days from april to july of 1994. it was conceived by extremist elements in rwanda's majority population who planned to kill the minority population and anybody who stood up for the minority almost a million people died in 90 days most of them chopped to death with machetes and the world watched my rwandan friends referred to the united nations as the united nothing [Music] because when they needed help there was no help imagine just in our nation with a population exponentially larger imagine if a million people were murdered in a hundred days i bet that felt like the end of the world what do you think it took courage to stand up for the right thing in the midst of that do you think me too you want something a bit more modern sudan has been embroiled in civil wars more than one but in 1983 a military regime there tried to impose sharia law as a part of its overall policy to islamicize all of sudan that conflict lasted from 1983 to 2005. that's a long time [Music] the outcomes of it where roughly 2 million people died two million people as a result of war famine or the disease that came from the conflict four million people in southern sudan were displaced at least once and most of them multiple times during that period of time they had no homes four million people two million murdered and four million displaced the civilian death toll in sudan was the highest of any war since world war ii and was marked by some of the most egregious human rights violations the open practice of slavery mass killings were commonplace i think if you lived in sudan you'd say it's the end of the age see we've lived in isolated bliss it just wasn't convenient to look but if there's a pandemic and we can't go to disneyland this is the end of the world or we're disappointed in some organization that's spelled with some letters from the alphabet you can pick one this is the end of the world now it's got to be jesus is coming back i'm not trying to diminish that because i think it's a very legitimate possibility i'm telling you i don't want you to cultivate an escapist mentality that absolves us of the responsibility be advocates for jesus of nazareth we're going to have to be willing to acknowledge sin and we're going to have to be willing to stand up my time is up i'll pick this up tomorrow i did bring you a prayer i want to invite you we live in the most exciting time you say pastor it's a deal yeah i got it it's difficult routines are broken habits are different schools are different the media is different i get it but in the midst of it there's greater kingdom opportunities than you've ever seen there are yeah but i liked my life the way it was duly noted some of you love summer and you don't like the winter you get grumpy when the trees start to lose their leaves let me ask you a question did you be in grumpy change the reality do the days stay long because you got grumpy and you stood outside and scowled i doubt it i bet you still got to get out your winter coat well being grumpy about the fact that circumstances changed is not the best response preparing for the season we're in is amen it's harvest time the fields are white the children need us to stand they need your strength they need your leadership they need your boldness they need your perspective they need your willingness to humble yourself and repent they're counting on us i brought you a prayer i said that let's stand i took this from acts chapter 4. i really adapted it from there they're threatening the disciples in jerusalem so you got to stop talking about this jesus character we're going to shut you down this is not new we acted shocked well you know i was afraid to talk about my faith or there would be a lawyer involved really i think we're the first generation to face that i'm embarrassed to the degree that i have complied this was their prayer after the threat i think it's worth us praying i added one sentence but you can check the reference i gave you the reference if you're offended you just pray the part that came right out of acts okay let's read it together now lord consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant jesus may we be found faithful and fulfill all which you created us for let jesus name be exalted throughout the earth amen hallelujah god bless you hey this is pastor allen thank you for watching this video if you enjoyed it like it and most importantly share it with your friends if you want to be notified when there's new content when we post new material if you'll just subscribe to my channel and hit the bell you'll get the notification most of all i pray god blesses you as you continue on your spiritual journey and open your heart to the lord god bless [Music] you

Channel: Allen Jackson Ministries

Views: 95,924

Keywords: Pastor Allen Jackson, allen jackson ministries, world outreach church, alan jackson, sermons, preachers, how to be saved, Finding Jesus, pastor allen jackson sermons, End of the Age, tribulation, big trouble ahead, big trouble, Rwanda genocide, Sudan civil war, Kristallnacht, schools, children, Israel, is it the end of the world, is Jesus coming back, is Jesus returning, antisemitism, Jewish people, idols, what are idols, sin, temptation, deception

Id: LIO8i3uEEec

Length: 57min 55sec (3475 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 16 2022